Single first time house buyers in the UK face a decade of saving for a typical house deposit

It takes a decade for a single first time buyer in the UK to save for a typical house deposit, a new research has found

It takes a decade for a single first time buyer in the UK to save for a typical house deposit, a new research has found. Saving for a typical deposit for a first home takes a year less than it did in 2017, but first time buyers still face a decade of saving to get a 15% down payment.

In the first quarter of 2018 the average single first time buyer would have to save for 10 and a half years to raise a 15% deposit on their first home, down on the 11 years recorded in the same quarter of 2017.

The year difference reflects slower house price growth and a rise in incomes, according to the study from Hamptons International and it means that the average single first time buyer who started saving in the first three months of the year would not be able to purchase a home until the autumn of 2028.

But for couples the time needed is halved as sharing rent and every day household costs such as food and bills means that a couple can save faster, needing five years to save a 15% deposit.

However, the time period is more when buying in London where a single buyer needs to save for 17 years for a 15% deposit and a couple eight years. But it is now six months quicker for a couple to save up for a home in London than last year and the report says that a slowdown in London house price growth and higher income growth explains the change.

But there are quicker ways to home ownership. For example using the Help to Buy scheme means that a buyer can get on the housing ladder with a 5% deposit. For a single buyer this would take three years and nine months of saving, some six and a half years faster than saving for a 15% deposit.

Hamptons International Analyst Aneisha Beveridge said saving a deposit is still the biggest barrier to buying a first home. It takes a single person more than a decade to save up in the current climate. But the additional support from Help to Buy brings down the time it takes to raise a deposit by over six years for a single first time buyer.

Slower house price growth in the capital has meant that it’s now six months quicker for a couple, who share household spending, to save up for a 15% deposit in London. But it still takes a couple in London eight years to save up, twice as long as someone buying a home in the North.